Talk to me about boxers

[PenisFlyTrap]

I'm thinking of getting one at some point, probably early next year.

What are the pros and cons of boxers? We have two preschool age children, a chihuahua and a cat to consider

Might a boxer be suitable? Or if not, is there another breed for which we could offer a suitable home?

Boxers are amazing with children but are prone to lots of health conditions cancer, hip dysplasia and many other things. We had ours for nearly 7 years before she sadly got terminal cancer we have 2 children 4 and nearly 2 and she was the best dog on earth! Our breeder had a cat so she liked cats and loved other dogs. They are full on though, full of mischief and life and like any dog require lots of attention and time. They also need alot of walks and play to keep them stimulated. Unsure if one would fit in with your other animals. Definitely would with the children. Ours also had severe anxiety for the first 4 years so our house took a beating (scratching doors, escaping her cage, jumping baby gates, eating beds and cushions) haha would do it all again though.

They are incredibly high energy and need breed appropriate training, not just basic 6 week puppy courses! They are prone to health issues and the ones I've known don't live longer than 10 yrs old.
They need a LOT of recall training that will need to be reinforced every day. Can you commit to this + 2 off lead walks of 40mins + per day, 365 days a year?
There are more suitable dogs for a young family.

Great with children but prone to epilepsy, cancer and skin complications.

Bonkers, very short life span, loads of health issues and many can be dog reactive.

As others have said. Very full on, need lots of exercise and good training but are incredibly loyal and protective. But in your case maybe look at STBs/crosses? Much the same but a bit calmer and possibly easier with a young family. Like any dog you need to be careful with children around, but if they can learn how to behave with a dog they’d be fine.

You need to start by looking at what you can offer a dog:

• how many walks can you realistically do per day and for how long?
• how much training can you commit to per day/week ie at home + formal classes
• what type of holidays do you do eg in UK where you can take the dog or do you like to jet off twice a year so dog will need putting into kennels?
• what is your home set up like, especially the size of your garden?
• do you wfh or do you both leave to go to work all day, every day. If the latter then in my personal opinion you shouldn't even consider a dog

For first time dog owners I would avoid any working breed: spaniel, retriever, collie, weimaraner etc as they are all high energy and highly intelligent so need proper training etc.
Also avoid any of the "designer" breeds ie mongrels such as cockapoos/jackapoos etc aa these are top types for puppy farming and there is no control over the breeding practices hence the high number in rescue centres for behaviour issues.

Nice natured usually. A lot of them are full on and bouncy. Lots of cancer, often in not particularly old dogs - there's a reason why "Boxernoma" will be on the list of differential diagnoses for all sorts of signs from seizures to skin lumps. A lot of spondylosis- if you walk past somebody looking at an Xray of a spine that has more or less turned into a massive solid rod of bone, and ask , "Boxer?" the answer will be "Yep" and you won't get any prizes for guessing.

If you get one, get one with plenty of face- a lot of them are really quite brachycephalic now, as are quite a few Rotties- a shitty fashion IMO.

I really wouldn't advise getting a boxer with two small children. They generally have lovely temperaments but they are big, strong dogs who need a lot of exercise. They could easily send a small child flying with very little effort on their part.

They're also not the healthiest or most long-lived of breeds so you'd need to do your research to make sure you're getting one from health-tested parents.

Personally I wouldn't advise any puppy until you're children are at school.

I have two boxers (5 & 2) and my two are not your "usual typical boxers". Both of them used to be nutty as puppies, my 5 yo is now so chilled, would sleep all day but would also play at daycare all day, the youngest is a bit more active but still the same as the 5 year old. They are fiercely loyal towards family, we don't have any children but when we are around them they are gentle and playful. They are happy with a 20 minute walk or a lovely 2 hour adventure around the forest. We have a group of friends with boxer dogs and they have children and they are always affectionate and playful, I personally think they will make lovely dogs for your family. Good luck.

"They're also not the healthiest or most long-lived of breeds so you'd need to do your research to make sure you're getting one from health-tested parents."

AFAIK (delighted to be corrected) I don't think any tests exist for the propensity to cancer, spondylosis or atopy. You could get hip and elbow scores but looking at the KC stats it seems very few Boxer breeders bother.

In lieu of that, get as close a look as you can at the ear canals and the skin between the pads of the parents, as these are the most common sites for atopy. If you see redness or chronic thickening, keep on walking.
Re: cancers and musculoskeletal problems- if the breeder has a grandparent or two in double figures or even early teens galloping around moving well and not scarred by lump removals, that's as close to a good sign as you will get.
If you can get a pup from older parents, so much the better- the parents have had more "chance" to start showing signs of atopy, epilepsy etc which a one year old dog might not.

I love them BUT
Sadly prone to a lot of health conditions
They are absolutely bonkers and don’t tend to chill out as much when they mature as some other high energy breeds. The silly puppy-ness does seem to stick.
Personally I wouldn’t recommend a young boxer with young children. I think the children will just be getting flatterned every 5 minutes.

Lots of health issues, check the insurance before going ahead, someone I know pay's £95 per month and the pup was 8 weeks old!

Doh. I meant SBT - Staffordshire Bull Terrier 🙄😬

Utterly bonkers until they die IME. Lovely dogs but nuts.

I’m wondering how many of the responders on this thread have actually ever owned a boxer! DB and I have had 2 each.
cons: they rarely live to double figures and tend to go out with a bang. Very susceptible to cruciate ruptures and skin atopy. They can be bonkers.
pros: they are the only dog I would consider with small children. They just seem to know they need to be gentle with small things. I’m not sure what the pp saying they need ‘lots’ of exercise mean by ‘lots’….we aren’t taking 10 miles a day like collies or springers. Ours is happy with a couple of miles. And they really aren’t that hard to train. Our chewing phase involved one bite mark in a pencil case, she doesn’t jump up, barks about twice a year, never goes upstairs, doesn’t come on the sofa except when invited, never steals food or begs, never needed a dog guard in the car and runs along beside our heels off the lead when we go out for a run. Oh, and she ignores our rabbits hoping around the living room. We regularly get comments about how well behaved she is. I don’t think you’ll ever have a better dog OP.

And the pp who has a friend paying £95/month - your friend is being completely ripped off- and I bet if she reads the small print the puppy probably isn’t even covered for cruciate repairs. I’m just sorting out insurance renewal now and can get lifetime with £5k for cruciate and £5k limit per condition for anything else that comes up for £45/month (our renewal was £61 with £1500 cruciate limit). You do have to shop around ever year.

Honestly I think with two preschoolers, another dog and a cat it may be too much.

I have an 18 month old female boxer who is in the vets words 'the calmest boxer she has met' and she is still bouncy. She is great with my ASD child who is 8 and can be quite erratic, but she jumps up a lot and is generally a Tigger, so can scratch inadvertently. With a younger child she would knock them flying.

We also have two cats who have the run of upstairs so that they can get away from her as she wants to love them, but they do not want to be loved by a pawsy dog. A boxer may also similarly be to big and enthusiastic for your chihuahua.

They need longer walks than a chihuahua and are very strong so you would likely have to walk them separately and without the children if on your own. There is no way I could have managed two small kids and a boxer on a walk.

Beautiful but bonkers, heath issues, short lifespan.

I'd love one but have always said no for above reasons.

Fabulous with children and so very soppy and emotional, they form very deep bonds with their family and imo are the friendliest of friendly dogs. More so than a Labrador and I’ve had a fair few of them. They are the ultimate in family dogs but take specific work.

We have one who is nearly 14 and my DH has had other boxers, they are his breed of choice. We have been lucky with her health but do watch their teeth and cleaning them is really important.

They need a lot of mental stimulation and can when younger be clumsy. They are at least 28 KG of pure muscle got a fair few bruises off our girl when she was younger as she was like a friendly bullet and did knock me over a few times.

They need solid training but are very desperate to please and we didn’t find her hard to train and even now if I need her to do something she will learn it. My DH has developed major health issues and we have had to train her to go onto her bed when he is using his power chair ( he struggles to control it) for her safety etc… and she instinctively knows not to go near his crutches when he is mobilising ( unlike my spaniel who knocked him over a few times and put him in hospital). Boxers are bright, affection seeking missiles, my Boxer is hit and miss with other dogs, preferring to ignore them and not liking them in her face ( they are growled at, if the owner is ridiculous enough to ignore my pleas to call their dog off). Our boxer is human centred never happier than being with people and being given ample affection. They do not like to be left and our one has always had someone at home during the day, she doesn’t cope brilliantly when DH has hospital appointments, I have to drive/attend with him and we have to ask a friend to pop in and just give her some company … but this is few and far between these days. Boxers, I feel would die from loneliness knowing how they fixate on their humans.

Like all dogs, what you put in you get out 100 fold but they don’t suit being left alone, weak leaders and they are bright, muscle bound units who need structure, stimulation and above all love and attention. If they are not trained properly I would imagine they would be a nightmare to live with.

Our vet smiles when she sees ours and wryly says ‘ Ah, Boxers clowns of the dog world!’ About sums it up. And our girl is unusual at nearly 14, they are classed as large breed and don’t live that long compared with many other breeds. As ppl have said up thread they don’t calm down, they are as interested, bouncy, alert at 6 months as they are at 12. Our girl is only just slowing a little she sleeps a bit more and bounces a bit less but if excited returns to teenage bonkers brain. We do absolutely love her and she is unlike any breed I’ve ever had as family having had labradors and springer spaniels. Boxers imo are more work but are incredibly funny and affectionate.

I may get shouted at for this but don’t go near the white ones unless you are very rich. Due to Dh’s health we wont get another one but they are magnificent dogs, just research research and research they are not imo a first time dog owner suitable.

@SpanielsMatter yours sounds like mine! Except he would (and has!) run for miles to go and say hello bounce all over someone he has spotted. Of course, they think he’s coming to rip them to pieces. Utterly soppy and emotional, quite anxious and came to us with terrible separation anxiety and other issues from being ‘traditionally‘ bullied/abused trained.

@Purpletreesinmygarden your dog sounds lovely and I think you must be very good at training boxers! Given the best start in life and lots of understanding I think it should be easy to have a dog like this. Unfortunately we have rescued many dogs (different breeds) who haven’t been managed as well as yours.

Awesome dogs. They’ll take a bullet to keep your dc safe.

@Errolwasahero Dh says they are all very similar temperament wise. We made a mistake not teaching her separation as a puppy. She fell in love with my spaniel before falling in love with us ( at 8 weeks old, waddled in, nicked his bone, climbed on top of him and that was that, swung off his dopey ears, ambushed him and had to be persuaded not to sleep on him once he became old and she was nearly 30 kg, she nearly pined to death when he died last November). I agree that they can be taken on by insert your own adjective people who think they are ‘hard’ dogs and treat them accordingly, it is heartbreaking. I’ve known King Charles Spaniels who have more resilience to a mild rebuke than a Boxer, just this evening I stripped beds and ours was deeply hurt that she was banished from being with me during this activity ( she sits on the duvet cover while I am trying to put it on the duvet which is a little tiresome). You are enormously brave taking on rescue Boxers they are so sensitive and gentle underneath the 500MPH bonkers brain. They are a total contradiction.

Love your username btw

@SpanielsMatter aw she sounds adorable! Thank you, we did have some experience of them before but he was a challenge! Our rescue knows us though, we’re prime candidates for the sob story!

GNUSTP 👍

My oh just reminded me of the Facebook page ‘bobbyfromthebin’ showing Boxer-life. Always worth a watch 😍

Absolute fantastic dogs, I grew up my whole life with boxers then got 2 of my own.
i don’t have one at the moment as I had young primary kids so we went for a SBT instead

both SBT and Boxers are fantastic with children but the reason I didn’t choose a boxer is time. They need a lot of training, they aren’t the easiest to train not compared to SBT who are incredibly smart.

I wouldn’t get a boxer in your situation just because they are a handful, they need a lot of training and situmlation

both boxers and SBT can be dog reactive so that’s something you need to decide if you can cope with

boxers do not like being left alone alot and will be do damage to your house if bored.

I think you need to be experienced to own one and be committed to spending a lot of time to them .

blooming fantastic dogs though and so much fun.